Play and Learn 2/19941.ZIP/19941/EDUCMISC/TTT/AIRCRAFT.LSN

Text File | 1994-02-04 | 6.3 KB | 117 lines

The History of Aviation
    In ages past, the idea of flight has always inspired
man.  As early as the 15'th century, numerous sketches of
ornithopters, helicopters, and parachutes were made by
Leonardo da Vinci.  Unfortunately, all of his ideas for
flight operated on manpower, which was an illfounded dream
as was proven by an Italian professor of mathematics,
Giovanni Alphonso Borelli.
    On June 5, 1783, the first public display of aviation
took place at Annonay, France.  The hot air balloon used in
this display was designed and built by Etienne and Joseph
Montgolfier.  On November 21, of the same year, a full sized
"Montgolfiere" balloon brought aloft the first man ever.
    Obviously, an aeronaut had a terrible lack of control in
a balloon.  This led to much energy being wasted in vain
attempts to direct balloons with oars, sails, and hand
driven propellers.  Although the French officer, General
Meusnier designed a steerable airship in 1784, it was not
until 1852 that a craft of this type was actually built.
    Most of the previous attempts at flight were made "to
get in the air" however, many people believed that this
would be totally useless unless once airborne, the aeronaut
had a way to control the flight.  The chief proponent of
this belief was German Otto Lilienthal.
    Lilienthal believed that before powered flight could be
achieved, that gliders must first be built and a means of
control devised.
    In 1889, Lilienthal built his first hang glider.  His
first ones were unsuccessful, but he continued and began
receiving promising results with his "No. 6" in 1893.  By
1894, he completed his most successful glider, the "No.
11".  All of Lilienthals hang gliders were easily controlled
by the pilot shifting his torso and legs from side to side
and back and forth.  On August 9, 1896, while gliding in a
"No. 11" type glider, it stalled and sideslipped into the
ground.  Lilienthal died the next day.
    Otto Lilienthals experiments inspired the sons of an
American United Brethren Church bishop, Wilbur and Orville
Wright.  In May, 1899, Wilbur wrote to the Smithsonian
Institution for information, and by August the two brothers
had built a biplane glider spanning 5 feet.  Some control
was achieved by twisting the trailing edges of the wings.
This glider performed successfully enough to warrant the
production of a full sized glider which was completed in
1900.
    Not thoroughly satisfied with the performance of this
glider, in 1902, they built their second full sized glider.
This glider was first flown on September 20, 1902, and made
almost 1000 fully controlled manned glides by October of the
same year.
    In 1903, the Wright brothers began to build a powered
airplane.  They designed and built their own engine for the
plane, and the propellers had an efficiency of 60 per cent,
a tremendous improvement on anything up to that time.
    On December 14, 1903, their airplane, "The Flyer" made
an unsuccessful attempt at powered flight.  Three days
later, on the 17'th of December, the Wrights were ready for
a second attempt.  This time it worked.  Orville Wright took
off at 10:35 am and made a 12 second flight covering 120
feet.  He had just made the first powered flight in history,
which was quickly followed by three more, the last of which
lasted 59 seconds and covered 852 feet.
    The first completely practical powered airplane was the
"Flyer III" of 1905.  This airplane made over 50 flights
during the 1905 season, the longest of which took 38 minutes
3 seconds and covered 24.2 miles.  This amazing run of
achievements was halted when attempts to interest the U.S.
and several foreign governments failed.  The Wright brothers
suspended their experiments until 1908.
    While the Wrights were making awesome progress in the
United States, European pioneers were still struggling to
master the basics.  Desperate attempts to follow the lead of
the  Wrights were made, but it was not until the October of
1906 that any sort of powered flight was achieved in
Europe.  Even then, the best they could accomplish was 21.2
seconds.
    In 1909, on July 25'th, Louis Bleriot flew his No. XI
monoplane across the English channel, spelling out the end
of Britains island security.  Also in 1909, the first big
aviation meeting was held at Reims, in France. At this
meeting, 87 flights that were over 3 miles were achieved.
    The year 1910 gave way to an arousing display of public
interest in aviation.  This was caused by the many aviation
meetings, organized races, and competitive flying.  Also,
Germany's Deutsche Luftschiffarts AG (DELAG) began a
passenger carrying airship service between German cities.
DELAG carried more than 35,000 people without injury for a
total distance of 170,000 miles from 1910 to 1914.
    In 1911, distance began to be conquered.  C.P. Rodgers,
flying in a Wright EX biplane, traveled from New York to
Long Beach, a distance of 4,000 miles.  This trip was
accomplished in 32 stages of 1 hour each.  After 19 en route
crashes, there was little of the original plane left upon
arrival at Long Beach. The entire trip took 49 days.  Long
distance flying was encouraged by races between cities such
as Paris and Rome.
    In 1912, in San Diego, the first practical seaplane was
developed by attaching three floats to a standard biplane.
It first flew on January 26.
    By now, the flying machines began to attract the
attention of military authorities around the world.  The
possibilities of the airplane were endless.  Britain and
France held military meetings and live bomb  dropping trials
took place in the United States.  Italy was the first nation
to introduce airplanes to war when Captain Piazza few his
Bleriot on a reconnaissance flight over Turkish positions on
October 22.
    By now, war preparations were gathering momentum.  The
upcoming conflict, world war one, was to be the most
destructive conflict in the history of man.  Airplanes
played a very important role in the war as fighters,
bombers, and for reconnaissance.  This war sped up
production of aircraft and introduced new designs.  With
each nation trying to outdo the others, there was no turning
back.  The early pioneers, and WWI set the foundations of
aviation that would never be removed.